Tadmarton Village

Tadmarton Village History

Upper and Lower Tadmarton form one parish, which has developed since the 10th century along an ancient route that dates back to the Iron Age. Some of the houses recorded for Hearth Tax purposes in 1665 are still lived in, and the church, rectory and manor together with the tithe barn are of an even earlier date. Many villagers served in the 2 world wars click Wartime Tadmarton for more details.

The village was owned for 500 years by Abingdon Abbey, for some time shared with an un-named knight, the village is now lived in by something under a thousand residents, with five working farms, a number of small businesses and only a few second homers. The history of the village can be traced in the several waves of building, from pre-Elizabethan through to 20th century social housing, speculative building and, most recently, a large development of houses in Lower Tadmarton.

There are notable houses, thatched cottages with interesting stone features, Welsh slate and split stone roofed buildings and the greater houses such as The Grange, rebuilt from the old rectory in1842, the Manor, with Elizabethan features and a 15th century tithe barn, and more recent imposing structures such as the restored Tadmarton House and the Highlands Development who have their own website Tadmarton Park website

The social life of the village centres upon the church, the pub and the village hall, conveniently close together

St.Nicholas church has elements from around 1130 with 13th century additions and restoration in1893. There were numbers of Quakers and later Methodists who met in the village in earlier times in buildings no longer standing.

The pub was first opened in 1906 in a building that replaced a former Red Lion inn and which was, in 1865, intended by Captain Lampet for a railway inn. The railway never came, and the place was used as a shop and post office. The Lampet Arms remains as a Free House with converted stables offering comfortable lodging.

Tadmarton Village Hall, the village hall was originally the largest of three schools, built in 1875 and in use till 1971 when it was wrested from the Church Commissioners by public appeal. Now extended by an annexe, it is in constant use for all manner of village events and functions, its former playground still a playground for young people.